2 Boston Tunnels Require Repairs

By KATIE ZEZIMA

Published: September 27, 2006

Two aging tunnels leading to and from Logan International Airport need major ceiling repairs, Gov. Mitt Romney said Tuesday. The findings are a result of an audit conducted after a Boston woman was killed in July by falling concrete in a newer tunnel.

The Sumner Tunnel, which runs from the airport to downtown Boston, is the worse off of the two. Steel supports holding up a tiled drop ceiling that runs through most of the tunnel are rusting, causing them to expand and damage about 30 percent of the concrete that forms the shell of the structure. That concrete, from which the drop ceiling hangs, is fractured and chipping away, though it is not in danger of falling and jeopardizing motorists.

Parts of the tunnel ceiling were never fitted with drop tiles, and the original 72-year-old concrete ceiling remains. That concrete is rotting, and crews are chipping away loose areas with hammers to ensure they do not fall onto the roadway. Those parts of the ceiling must eventually be replaced.

In the Callahan Tunnel, which leads to the airport, 418 bolts holding steel supports into the top of the tunnel are loose and in the process of being repaired. As in the tunnel where the Boston woman, Milena Del Valle, 38, was killed, the beams holding the drop ceiling in this one are fastened to the tunnel with epoxy bolts.

The Callahan Tunnel, which is 45 years old, also lacks diagonal steel beams to support the structure in case of an earthquake and must be fitted with them.

Repairs on the Sumner Tunnel are unlikely to begin until next summer because a plan must be developed, Mr. Romney said. The tunnel will also not be repaired until the entire system where Ms. Del Valle was killed is reopened, and officials said they did not know when that would be.

''The Sumner's condition is such that a long-term structural repair is going to have to be done,'' Mr. Romney said at a news conference. ''This is not something that can be repaired in the evening on occasions. This is a major project to reline and repair the inside of that tunnel system.''

The tunnels are safe to use until the repairs begin, Mr. Romney said, because they are being inspected regularly.

Officials said such deterioration was common in older tunnels in cold climates because concrete laid decades ago was more porous than the material used today. Any decay is usually caught during routine inspection.